The present invention relates to personal computers and, in particular, to the housing structure thereof.
Personal computers (p.c.) typically comprise a housing in which are mounted the various functional components of the computer. The housing usually comprises wall components which form not only the outer shell of the computer but also the internal bays, pockets, compartments, etc. in which the functional components are mounted.
It will be appreciated that once such a computer has been manufactured, the ability to easily reconfigure the computer from the standpoint of its appearance and/or functionality is greatly limited. Some reconfiguration of the functionality has been made possible by providing computers with plug-in modules but the amount of reconfiguring that can be achieved thereby is relatively minimal. In effect, the only way to perform a substantial reconfiguring of computer functionality or appearance is to essentially disassemble the computer, which is prohibitively expensive from the standpoint of time and cost. This means that once a computer is manufactured, it may not be easily reconfigured to incorporate recent innovations, or alter its capabilities, or change its appearance.
One way of avoiding that shortcoming while still offering customers with a wide variety of quickly-available computers requires that computer manufacturers maintain a relatively large inventory of computers. However, that practice is relatively costly from economic and storage space standpoints.